Beloved Kensington Grocery Store Cheating Workers Out of Wages

Golden Farm market on Church Ave and E. 4th Street is much loved by residents of Windsor Terrace and Kensington—any store with 4 for a dollar limes, decent tomatillos in the dead of winter, and sub-$5 bags of King Arthur flour ought to be—but sadly, there is a lot not to love. According to an email sent by City Councilperson Brad Lander’s office yesterday, owner Sonny Kim has been acting like a sleazeball.

From Lander’s email:

If you’ve walked past the Golden Farm supermarket in recent weeks, you may have thought that the Occupy spirit had come to Kensington. The store has been the site of many protests recently, because for years its workers were forced to work long hours for less than minimum wage.

I know that many people have shopped at Golden Farm and appreciated the store’s prices. But none of us want a good deal coming at the cost of a fair paycheck for the store’s staff.

The protests have started resulting in changes — but the workers still need your support. Golden Farm has now started paying minimum wage, but is refusing to pay back wages to workers who are still owed that money, and is resisting their demands for better working conditions.

This is a huge, huge bummer. Part of what is awesome about living in New York is that you get the option to shop at small, family owned groceries that stocks rows of weird Ukrainian snacks instead of going to the chain store, so it’s super disappointing to find out you’ve been supporting someone who treats their workers poorly. Arg.

There is a petition to sign, and for anyone interested, a community meeting tonight.

Community Meeting in support of workers at Golden Farms Grocery StoreWednesday, January 25th, 8:30 PM95 Sherman Street, between Terrace Place and 11th AvenueRSVP here